I am in Kansas City. Still Winter, but warming up. Today it was a pleasant and somewhat unseasonable 62 degrees so I inspected the hive for the first time in over 3 months. I looked for the queen and for brood. T is my understanding that even in the cold Midwest, the queen will start laying in early February. Sometimes even in January. I looked for open celled brood, but could find none. There may be capped brood. Attached are pictures of what I believe is the queen and also of some of the frames.

My questions:

Is this the queen?

There are 2 pictures where there is a triangle of sunlight. Within those sunlit triangles there are capped cells. Are those capped brood? If so why couldn’t I find any uncapped brood?

I saw many hive beetles. A surprise to me at this time of year. Should I be surprised? What should I do?

The all-natural way to trap the small hive beetle. Simply fill the trap with our Beetle Blaster Oil and place it between 2 frames. The beetles go in and can’t get back out. You can change them out as often as necessary, even during a honey flow!...

PRICE: $1.89

You can either use the oil from Mann Lake, or USP Grade Mineral Oil. I haven’t noticed a difference, and I have tried both. One trap in the top box of the hive is usually enough if you are going to inspect every week or two.

When keeping bees, our number one priority is their health. Using harsh and toxic chemicals is not only bad for our bees it is bad for the ecosystem. ARBICO Organics is proud to introduce our newest beneficial nematode, Heterorhabditis indica ...

With them clustering on the frames like that it would be hard to see anything. With that queen and all those bees I would shut it up and let the bees get on with it. SHB traps would be worthwhile like Dawn said.